Ár Ré leadership election, 4252
Ár Ré - Party of Kirlawa held a leadership election from July to December of 4252 to replace Angus Pollux, who resigned in July after bad electoral results. Four candidates participated in three rounds of balloting; Jennifer Bowens, the Spokesperson for Environment and Culture, won out against Michael Arthur-Doyle, the Spokesperson for Internal Affairs and Deputy Leader of the Party. A total of 77,056 votes were cast. Background In the July 4252 general elections, Ár Ré suffered heavy losses, losing nearly half of all seats in the General Assembly. Incumbent President of Kirlawa, and Leader of Ár Ré, Angus Pollux came in fourth place in the first round of the presidential election and failed to make it to the run-off, thus ending three terms of Ár Ré presidential rule. As a result of the poor electoral performance, Pollux resigned as Leader of Ár Ré, triggering a leadership election to be held between July and December of 4252. He simultaneously withdrew his candidacy for future presidential elections, triggering a presidential primary held in 4256. Procedure The last constitutional review was held in 4250, but no changes have been made. Up to only six candidates can participate in the leadership election. Candidates need not be holding public office, but have to be a member of Ár Ré for at least three years, and must receive at least one "endorsement". This endorsement could come from either a sitting Ár Ré member of the General Assembly, from the Regional Assemblies, by the incumbent Leader of Ár Ré (if he/she is not a sitting member), or from a former President of Kirlawa who represented Ár Ré. If more than six candidates apply, the six candidates with the highest number of endorsements will be selected to participate in the election. The election uses the Alternative Vote method, in which voters rank candidates by preference. In each round of balloting, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated until two candidates remain. In the final round, the candidate receiving the higher number of votes wins the election. Timeline * Remainder of July: Candidates were able to submit their nomination papers. * August 1 - November 31: Campaigning. * December 1 - December 10: Postal ballots are sent to all eligible voters. * December 11 - December 20: Postal ballots have to be returned to Headquarters or the provincial office for counting. * December 21: The results of the ballot are tabulated and the new leader of Ár Ré is announced. * December 24: Leader-elect formally sworn in a special party conference. Candidates Results Jennifer Bowens was in pole position in all three ballots. She had already won a majority on the first round of voting, but by the party's Constitution, all votes had to be tabulated before a winner could be announced, in case of counting errors. Aftermath In the 4256 presidential primaries, Jennifer Bowens won against Michael Arthur-Doyle and several other candidates, thus becoming the party's presidential nominee for the subsequent presidential election. Tanaka Tsukoda, the Deputy Spokesperson for Justice, became the Spokesperson for Trade and Industry in a cabinet reshuffle initiated by Bowens.